Music Video Analysis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKyK1Mme9Sc

The first video I am going to analyse is Two Door Cinema Club - Sun, the reason that i chose to analyse this particular music video is because the band who sing the song are an indie band and this is the genre that we have chosen to do our music video on. This particular video is very interesting as at points it has everybody apart from the band and a few dancers 'vanishing', this is a very good effect to use as it adds something different to the video as if it was just the band or just the party scenes it would be a very boring music video. It also makes really good use of different shots with a variety of them being used, for example when the lead singer is singing at 1:31 a number of different shots are used on him, including a close up, a mid shot, and a long shot. What tis does is it gives the video lots of different dimensions and means that is not too boring and it keeps the viewer entertained with a number of different shots. The storyline to the video is also very key, it starts off with the lead singer sitting on his own, then a number of people appear but they come and go throughout the video. The video then ends with the band standing on there own as everybody goes when the song comes to a stop. in my opinion there is no clear use of Freytag's theory of narrative within this piece as there doesn't seem to be a conflict that ends up being resolved in the end. However I feel things can be learnt from this video, it has made good use of editing to create the effect of the crowd vanishing, also the number of different shots which are used is a good thing because it keeps the video moving along. If the parts of the band singing were all done in one shot the video would not be very interesting. The main thing I like with this video is that it is very simple and doesn't over complicate things it only uses one setting but uses a number of different shots and angles within the setting to make the video look good.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOjdXSrtUxA

The next video I am going to look at is Ed Sheeran - Give Me Love, the basic storyline for this video is that a girl becomes cupid and then begins to go around shooting people with love arrows, but she then realises after bringing lots of people together that she herself is very lonely and she then stabs herself with the arrow, but then when a policeman comes in to investigate her death the arrow vanishes meaning that her love has been found. This storyline follows Freytag's theory of narrative well as it has all the factors that are required the conflict in this case being that despite helping others find the love the girl cannot find love for herself. However the video does twist Freytag's theory slightly as it starts with the girl being dead and the policeman walking in and then begins to tell the story of how things got to that situation. It has a very dark feel with it being shot in a night time scenario this makes the feel of the video very different than if it was shot during the day, but the dark feel of the video works as the song itself is quite sad so it wouldn't be good if the video was very jolly and had a party for example. I feel that the video is very in synch with the song as when the song changes pace so does the video this can be seen at 3:26. Overall i think that this is a very good music and is very well put together, but it would not be a good example for my group to follow as the song we have chosen to do is a lot more upbeat than this particular track.          

Focus Group Feedback

After the questionnaires had been done, we then each had to do a focus group. The purpose of this was for us to gain a deeper understanding of our target audience so that we can understand what they look for from a music video. It also allows us to get more in depth and personal answers than a questionnaire would. This is because it allows us to use more detailed questions and because you are face to face with the person you can get an honest response from them as they feel obliged to because they are sat there with you. 

Because I undertook the 25-30 questionnaires I had to get some people that took the questionnaires to take part in the focus group. 

Some interesting data I found out was that a lot of people that were into indie music also liked other genres such as rock and rap 

" I dont just like indie music, I like all different types. I like finding out about new and unusual artists that not many people have heard of before." This was the answer from one recipient when they were asked if they only liked indie music. 

Another question we asked was, What do you like to see in music videos? 

One recipient gave the answer of: "For me a music video has to be fun, the band or artist can't take themselves to seriously otherwise it just doesn't appeal to me. I cant connect with it. 

The second recipient's answer to the same question was, "If I'm being honest I don't really watch music videos for me its all about the song, but if I know that the music video is good through what other people say i'll watch it. 

 

From the answers we gained from our focus group it is important that we have a slightly quirky music video so that it fits with what people who already listen to that genre like. People like music videos that are fun and keep them entertained so it is important we keep with this idea as it will mean that our video is more likely to be successful. 

The people in the focus group were also asked what clothes they like the people in the video to be wearing. 

One of the people involved gave this answer: " I think that people care too much about what the artists are wearing, obviously there going to go to the shoot and wear the clothes that the stylists give them, its beyond there control so I don't know why people worry about it. 

Another answer given was: "I like to see the artists dress quite casually, like there not trying to hard. But if for example theres a storyline involved I don't mind them being in costume.  

From these answers we have learnt that the people that took part in our focus group do not view style as important, but given the responses from our questionnaires we know that style is important and that it is important that the style fits the genre of the track. So it would not be good to have a rapper dressed in a gothic style as it would not fit.  

Location Recee

A location recee is where you go to the locations you plan on using and check the suitability of the area. The reason we are going to carry out this recee is so that we have an idea of the area before we film there this is so that we know what surrounds the area and if there are going to be any problems. after surveying the area around where we are going to film we noticed that there could be a problem of traffic because we are going to be filming near a busy road. this could be a problem for a number of reasons, the first problem could be that the noise created by the cars going past could affect our filming as it could drown out our actors and the sound of the cars could be more prominent than the actors voices. Another problem with this is the danger that the cars could posses however this will not be a problem as we will not be filming really close to the road. Another problem we realised could arise from the location we chose is that it is a busy block of flats, this means it could be difficult to stop people from getting in our shots and ruining our filming, however this will not be that big a problem because of the time we are filming at it will not be that busy. Overall I do not think there will be any major problems with our location, it is suitable to film there and we will do so. 

Our Storyboard

This is the storyboard that we as a group created for our music video. it is in the format of a 2-Column storyboard because this is the best format for the type of production we are doing. 

Storyboarding

The type of storyboard we are going to use for our project is a 2-column storyboard. We are using a two column storyboard because we are doing music videos which means we do not to focus on every shot that is going to be produced and also because it is likely that there will be no narrative we do not need a box for it. A two column storyboard also allows more freedom when comes to actually filming because it will not restrict to the shot that has been drawn on the storyboard. Also a two column storyboard allows us to focus more on the detail of the shot than the actual shot itself, it allows us to see the ideas because they will be written down as opposed to being pictures. 

After having a go and producing a two column storyboard for the groups music video I received feedback from one of my peers who was not in my group. The feedback i received was that I should try and link certain parts of the song to the lyrics in order to make it more clear and precise what was actually going on. I was also told that I should summarise the whole video to a better quality. The next time I produce a two column storyboard I will link certain shots to the lyrics of the song, I could also put what lyrics will be played from the song when certain shots are happening this could be an additional column that would aid us when it comes to producing and editing our music video. I will also make sure I go into more detail about the shot the next time I produce a storyboard because it will make in easier and clearer for whoever is going to use the storyboard, this will also save me time as I will not have to explain to the person what is happening. 

Reasons For Creating A Music Video

Making a Music Video Reasons

Questionnaire Responses

As a group we handed out questionnaires to a number of people. In total we got 27 responses for it, this is good because as a group we only targeted 20 questionnaires. We then looked at the data from them and found out that the information on 9 of them would not be of any use to us and we would not use any of the data from them because they did not like indie music this then left us with 18 responses which we would analyse the data from. As a group we then split the answers from males and females, there was 7 females and 11 males. The females and males answers were then analysed independently. 

One of our questions was how they viewed certain bands, the band that we chose to use the answers for was the Arctic Monkeys this is because they are a well known UK indie band. 100% of the females said they either loved liked or found them okay. We then looked at the males answers and 64% of the males said that they either liked loved or found them okay. what this data shows us is that more females prefer the Arctic Monkeys to males but based on the number of respondents it does not show a female preference as more males liked indie music as a whole. We then analysed the question of wether or not music videos need to relate to the genre of the music we found out that 100% of the females felt that the music video did not need to relate to the genre of the music, however only 63% said it did not need to relate to the genre of the music. What this tells us is that males prefer a much more structured music videos whereas females have a more open mind and are not bothered about the basis of the music video. 

After this we analysed which clothing people like to see in music videos and the most common answer of both sexes was that the clothing should be related to the genre so in our case the people in our music video would have to be in indie clothing. We then looked at what people like to see from a music video and the most common answer across both sexes was that a music video needs to be creative and interesting in order to draw the viewer in and for them to be able to connect with it. We then looked at whether or not people pay for there music and we found out that 81% of males paid for there music and 71% of females paid for it, this figure is quite high considering how easy it is to illegally download music. 

We then looked at the data from the Favourite Music Video question and we found out that the most common video was to Gotye's Somebody That I Used To Know as for 66% of our respondents it was there favourite music video out of the list that we gave them. What this tells us is that people like music videos that are a bit different and unique from other music videos. 

Questionnaire We worked out our target audience to be males and females in the age bracket of 17-25  

Planning and Deadlines

What needs to be done

• Locations - We will have to work out what locations we want to use and then after we have worked out what locations we will have to perform a risk assessment of the area to make sure that the are suitable and safe enough for filming. We may also need to get permission to film in certain areas, for example if we are filming on somebody's land we will have to ask their permission to film there. We will also need to perform a location recee this will allow us to see if the area is suitable to film in. DEADLINE: 7/12/12 

• Contingency Plan - We will need to have back ups if for example our actors don't turn we need back up actors so that our filming is not affected. We will also need a contingency plan for our locations so if for example we plan to film outside but the weather conditions are not appropriate we would need somewhere else to film. It is important we contingency plan because this will mean that our filming will not be affected should anything go wrong. DEADLINE: 7/12/12

• Casting - The actors for our music video will need to be decided upon and we will have to make sure that they are capable of performing in front of people without getting nervous, we will also need to get the actors to learn the lyrics to our chosen song. we could also do a dress rehearsal of our video in order for the actors to feel comfortable performing in front of people and to get used to the environment that we will be filming in. DEADLINE: 7/12/12

• Concept - We will also need to come up with the idea for our music video and what the music video will contain. We will also need to storyboard this has it is important that we have it on paper what were going to film.   DEADLINE: 7/12/12

• Costume ETC: We will also need to decide what costumes we will use for our actors as what they look will make or break whether or not it will be a good music video or not. We will also need to decide what props and equipment we will need for the video as this is a very important part of the video. DEADLINE: 7/12/12

Research Carried Out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNXybY2DtwM&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXwYJyrKK5A&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QKj62RKBrM&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk-J1zT7TfQ&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hamKl-su8PE&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SQNNLe6WPA&feature=player_embedded 

After watching all the music videos above which are by a number of different artists, I have learnt that there are a couple of ways in which we can present our indie band in a music video. The first and most popular way is by having the band star in the music video. This is a very common method that most indie bands use. Normally it present the band singing a song but in a very different scenario from what they would normally perform in, for example the video for Ruby by the Kaiser Chiefs has them performing the song as a miniature city is built up around them. Most of the time the music videos for indie bands don't really have any meaning they are just ways that the band can show themselves and also raise awareness of the song

I also noticed a lot about the image of indie bands while watching the videos, most of the bands have a similar style but some do differentiate from this style. For example the style of most indie bands is quite rugged and as if they don't really care about their image to much. However certain bands do have a different style, for example Two Door Cinema Club have quite a hipster/indie style of dress sense which is different from most indie bands currently on the market, this means that they are unique and have something that separates them from the other bands. 

Lyric Annotations

Research Plan

Research Plan

This is a rough research plan for our group, we are looking to research what people listen to indie music and what they like about current indie artists and their music videos. We will use a number of different research methods in order to find out what people like. As a group we will be using questionnaires and focus groups to find out what people like. We will also do some secondary research on things such as sales figures and youtube views for current indie bands to see if we can make any connections to our group. 

From the questionnaires we hope to find out: 

• look of characters
• if the video should go with the song
• specific artists videos that they  like 
• we will do 5 questionnaires each with a different age group. I will be doing the 21-30 age group. Harry is doing 18-21, Tayla 30+ and Emily will be doing 16-17  
• the focus group will be done by all of us, with each one of us getting two people who filled out our questionnaires for the focus group. 
• sales figures
• ages that listen to indie music 
• if they prefer actors or the artists in videos.  

All of this research will help us when it comes to making our music video because we will know what people will like so we can incorporate this into our music video. It is vital we do good, in depth research or the music video will not be liked and therefore not viewed. 

Moodboard

This is my mood board that I created for my music video project. The song that was chosen for the music video was Balaclava by the Arctic Monkeys. I listened to the song in order to gain ideas for the mood board. After listening to the song i felt that it had quite a rebellious feel and with Arctic Monkeys being a British band the first place I looked for idea was the film This Is England. Having already seen This Is England I knew roughly what sort of look the characters had so I got a picture, the one I used is in the top left hand corner. I also felt the song had quite a retro British feel this is represented by the use of pictures of Mod's and also the use of the Mod logo, I have also used a picture from the video Wonderwall by Oasis as I feel that Oasis are a similar band to Arctic Monkeys so we can gain ideas from some of their videos. The song also has quite a violent feel and this is represented in the mood board by pictures of violence. The pictures I used were from the 2009 film The Firm, the reason I used these images is because it has a retro feel as can be seen by clothing that the characters are wearing. Continuing on the violence theme I put some images of the Brixton riots that happened in 1981 again this uses the retro theme as I feel it fits well with the song. I also put some quotes in there to signify what the song represents